Milky Way ~ Elegug Stacks

buckas

buckas

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Drew
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After the disappointment of the meteor shower (cloudy!) a few weeks back the day after was crystal clear so went down to Elegug (Guillemot in Welsh) Stacks near me about midnight ~ went here as it's pretty much closest south facing point near me and knew where the Milky Way would be situated thanks to Stellarium great bit of free software for seeing where stars etc reside (y)

Tried to get some meteors aswell but none came out on camera but we saw some right stunners.

Read up astro photography on here & elsewhere leading up to it and settings were as follows:

Overall vertical panoramic photo made up of 3 vertical sections stitched together each comprising of 4 photos taken at 25 seconds each @ f/4, ISO 3200 then stacked & lined up so as not to show trails (trail attempt gonna do soon) and "lighten" used in PS on each layer. Then the base image was 2 minutes @ f/4, ISO 3200 ( will remember to take big torch next time to paint the cliffs in on a shorter exposure) then comped in on PS.

Orange clouds are light pollution from I'd imagine the top coast of Devon, also had a lighthouse from Lundy on the image but cloned it out.

milkyway.jpg


5D Mark II & 17-40 f/4L


Cheers for looking (and reading!) (y)

drew
 
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A beautiful sight ,well done.
Was up in Scotland in May and went to Argyle forest, lot's of people there doing similar. The sky was very dark that particular night, the dark gas clouds were clearly visible along the milky way. So many stars visible it was hard to make out many of the well known constellations. :LOL:
 
A lot better than my attempts. :D

One suggestion though, a much longer exposure for the foreground at a lower ISO, then stick that into the image, or just a torch as you mentioned. :)

Some very good exposures of the stars though. :)
 
Very impressive, it's amazing that such sights are visible on our doorsteps. I'm going to try and capture something similar soon.
 
Holy ****! How amazing something so beautiful and here for us all to enjoy can be just an arms stretch away. Your photo is fantastic, and shows very good technical ability. Really, really good image (y)
 
That is a beautiful creation, really special. :clap:

Being totally thick with these things though, I can't work out how it breaks back down into it's composite parts.
 
Now if this doesn't get me into the car to get to some darker sky I don't know what will. I love this but I have no hope being so close to London.
 
Stunning shot Drew(y). A sight few of us get to see let alone capture.
I live within the shadows of london. I am lucky if I get to see the main constellations.

Take your torch for sure next time. A little more definition in the rocks would have made this perfect.
 
You seem to have a lot of hot pixels on your sensor.... Oh they're STARS :) . Wow. I only get to see a few of the major constellations here in Berkshire.
 
That is probably the best shot of the Milky Way I have ever seen anywhere on the 'net or on paper, no matter what kind of method has been done to create the final image.
The photo itself has the effect of making me feel like a tiny, tiny speck in the vast scheme of things.
 
You want to get your sensor checked, lots of hot pixels in this shot :LOL:

Seriously though nice image. I love night shots that incorporate the stars - puts everything into perspective (life wise that is).

Well done.
 
buckas said:
Read up astro photography on here & elsewhere leading up to it and settings were as follows
Click to expand...

Just casually 'read up' on it before?! :eek:

That's a phenomenal shot, doesn't look real at all! Great stuff! (y)

Chris
 
Drew, with every photo you excel the previous one. I would have thought there would have been more star trail at 25 secs exposure. However you managed it I don't know but it is stunning.(y)
 
What can one say ............... 11/10 !
 
That image is amazing. It is the first picture that I have ever seen that relates planet earth to the milky way rather than making the milky way appear like a distant galaxy unrelated to earth. It is absolutely brilliant. :clap:

I am trying to understand how you have achieved such a result although the chance of seeing anything much more distant than the moon from the midlands is severely limited by light polution from Brum!
 
Amazing photo mate... one of the best milkyway shots I've seen I think (y)

This is the reason I wanted to buy a slr, but I never managed to produce any good results and gave up on it. But seeing this shot gives me enthusiasm again. I got couple of questions for you though...

What do you mean by the base image? foreground rocks?

also, does the milky way actually show up on the photos when you look at them on the computer or do you have to do some editing to get it show up like this (for example is it the result of using lighten on ps?).

Thanks and once again, amazing photo (y)
 
I hate you :bonk:

Brilliant shot. Maybe lift the foreground just a little and only a little and that is a very commercial shot.
 
Very well done indeed! Best Milky Way shot I've seen from the UK!

I was just reading up on where was good in the UK to view the night sky and found this. I want to try and get some practice in before I head to Maui next month! I was wondering if the New Forest might be a good area as there is a small observatory there :eek:
 
Great sky, like it with the clouds for a bit of context as well.

As said though, the foreground is underexposed, and this is one of few cases when noise really gets in the way of a shot for me. A much longer, lower ISO exposure for the foreground, or get there earlier and shoot the foreground just after sunset would do wonders for it.
 
This is lovely, and I've been desperate to try it for a while now, but a combination of cloudy nights and my enjoyment of a drink on an evening has thwarted it. :D

Did you just rely on the "light frames" to do the stacking, or did you mess around with dark frames, flat frames, bias frames, etc?

Nice clear day today, and I'm hoping it continues into the night. (y)
 
That is a lovely shot indeed, well done! I've gotten a few milky way shots myself in the past, but the setting for this one, with the sea and pillars is excellent.
 
wow... that's a fantastic shot! never seen anything like it! lol

is this visable to the eye aswell or is it very faint? :thinking:
 
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:clap::clap: fanblinkin tastic shot would not even know where to start to try this please post linky to the thread you learnt off ! again WOW image really stunning
 
Great image, good composition, and excellent tips on how you created it. (y)
 
:eek:WOW! :eek:


Thanks all!! much appreciated, will definately be trying some more then if you liked this (y)(y)

Amp34 said:
A lot better than my attempts.

One suggestion though, a much longer exposure for the foreground at a lower ISO, then stick that into the image, or just a torch as you mentioned. :)

Some very good exposures of the stars though. :)
Click to expand...

Jayst84 said:
Great sky, like it with the clouds for a bit of context as well.

As said though, the foreground is underexposed, and this is one of few cases when noise really gets in the way of a shot for me. A much longer, lower ISO exposure for the foreground, or get there earlier and shoot the foreground just after sunset would do wonders for it.
Click to expand...

yeh deffo, not overall happy with the "land" part, but twas best could do in the situation - will take the torch next time

dazzajl said:
Being totally thick with these things though, I can't work out how it breaks back down into it's composite parts.
Click to expand...

the land part is one shot blended into the sky part - the sky is made up of two composites stitched together - each composite is made up of 4 photos stacked in Photoshop and using the layer blending to enhance the stars..........same process occurs in the deep sky stacker software but the output wasn't coming out as planned (might have been doing something wrong?) so did it in Photoshop....also it's noisier than it should be as couldn't use the blank frames to remove noise as did it in Photoshop

Doog said:
Drew, with every photo you excel the previous one. I would have thought there would have been more star trail at 25 secs exposure. However you managed it I don't know but it is stunning.(y)
Click to expand...

cheers Dougie, yeh as it's a super wide shot the movement isn't noticed that much under 25 secs.........whereas you would do if it was zoomed in loads for instance :)


existent said:
What do you mean by the base image? foreground rocks?
Click to expand...

see above (y)

existent said:
also, does the milky way actually show up on the photos when you look at them on the computer or do you have to do some editing to get it show up like this (for example is it the result of using lighten on ps?).

Thanks and once again, amazing photo (y)
Click to expand...

yeh does show up faintly, can see if with the naked eye if there's no moon and it's clear..........looks like a faint strip of cloud



GrittyShaker said:
Did you just rely on the "light frames" to do the stacking, or did you mess around with dark frames, flat frames, bias frames, etc?
Click to expand...

see above :) thanks

Twed207 said:
wow... that's a fantastic shot! never seen anything like it! lol

is this visable to the eye aswell or is it very faint? :thinking:
Click to expand...

see above, many thanks all

all the best

drew
 
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